ayat.nyc

09/11/2026

To all our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrating Rosh Hashanah, as the sun sets I wish you a peaceful and meaningful new year.

Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year.” In Arabic, we say رأس السنة, Ras al-Sanah.

Even our languages meet.

As a Muslim, my faith teaches me that standing firmly against injustice should never take away my ability to show kindness, compassion, or humanity.

The Quran teaches us, “Do not let the hatred of a people lead you to injustice. Be just. That is closer to righteousness.” 5:8

That verse means even more to me today.

Islam teaches us that Allah has honored the children of Adam. All of them. It teaches us the sanctity of innocent life, to stand for justice, and to recognize Jews and Christians as People of the Book. Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, is our prophet too.

Jews have been part of the fabric of Palestine and the wider Arab world for generations NOT Z10N1SM. Palestinian Jews have lived in Palestine for centuries alongside Muslims and Christians, sharing cities, neighborhoods, markets, food, language, and generations of history.

That history matters.

Judaism should never be reduced to Zionism or the actions of a state. Rosh Hashanah is a time of reflection, renewal, repentance, and looking inward. As Muslims, these are values we understand deeply too.

So as a new year begins, I pray for something painfully simple.

May Palestinian children be safe.
May Jewish children be safe.
May Every child be safe on this earth.
May no mother bury her child.
May no family fear another because of their religion or identity.
May the suffering of one people never be used to justify the suffering of another.

There is enough room in this world for every religion to practice their faith safely.

There is enough room to protect our different histories without denying each other’s humanity.

And there is always enough room to wish one another peace.

Shana Tova. שנה טובה.

كل عام وأنتم بخير وسلام.

May the coming year bring us closer to the humanity we so often ask others to find.

In humanity, always,
Abdul Elenani

09/11/2026

Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Resurfaced video!!

09/11/2026

09/09/2026

You asked. We listened. And here it is.

You guys have been asking us for a lunch special for a while, so we made one worth coming in for.

Starting 9/11 at ALL Ayat locations:

$18.99 Your choice of entrée Any 2 sides And a drink.

Monday through Friday 11AM to 3PM

You asked for it. We made it happen. 🍉

And as September 11 approaches, please don’t forget to pray for every life lost that day, their families, and everyone whose life was forever changed in the years that followed.

May we never forget the lives, the pain, and the humanity.

09/09/2026

Honor the innocent lives lost on 9/11. Remember them, pray for their families, and never minimize their pain.

9/11 DOES NOT REPRESENT ISLAM.

And let’s not even get into the conspiracy theories about what actually happened. That’s a whole different conversation.

Using tragedy to justify hate against an entire religion is wrong.

JUST LIKE HOW GENOCIDE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING DO NOT REPRESENT JUDAISM.

We can stand against both without hating Muslims or Jews.

Honor the innocent without creating hate toward other innocent people.

Hate has no religion. Humanity always comes first.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER,
Abdul Elenani

09/09/2026

Making our famous FALAFEL SANDWICHES! 🧆🌯🔥😋

09/08/2026

DC, don’t mind the mess outside 😂

The street may be under construction, but Ayat is OPEN and fully accessible. There’s a walking path right to our front door.

Follow the path. We’ll handle the rest. 🇵🇸❤️

09/04/2026

Our signature ARABY SHAWARMA! 🫓🥙🇵🇸

09/02/2026

CHICKEN vs BEEF PIZZAWARMA! Which one is yours? 🍗🥩🍕🫓🔥

09/02/2026

Beli - Restaurant Lists

08/31/2026

Our M’SAKHAN, in the making! 🍗🫓😋🔥

08/30/2026

📍Washington D.C

The keffiyeh is not a symbol of hate. It is not a symbol of intimidation. And it is not a symbol of armed conflict.

The keffiyeh has roots going back centuries in Palestine and across the Middle East, worn by farmers and working people for protection from the sun, dust and harsh climate.

Calling our culture threatening does not make our culture threatening.

At Ayat, everyone is welcome. Whether you’re jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist whatever your belief may be and every walk of life. We will never judge someone by their faith, ethnicity or where they come from.

But welcoming everyone does not mean erasing who we are.

Our walls will continue to tell stories. Our food will continue to tell stories. And wherever we are in this world, we will continue to communicate the occupation and oppression of people through culture, food and humanity.

The keffiyeh stays.

Humanity always comes first.

Love you all,
Abdul Elenani

08/28/2026

Introducing our FALAFEL PIZZAWARMA! 🧆🍕🫓🔥🤤

08/27/2026

A little appreciation post for the real content creators.

The ones who spent years building a real community. The ones who actually love creating, sharing, making people laugh, putting people onto new places, and telling stories.

Your numbers may not always be the biggest, but they’re real. Your engagement is real. Your community is real. And that matters.

Buying tens of thousands of followers to make yourself look influential isn’t content creation. Using fake numbers to get free meals, free products, free stays and free experiences isn’t “collaborating.” It’s taking advantage of businesses and disrespecting the creators who actually put in the work.

And unfortunately, a lot of businesses still fall for it because they see a follower count and don’t look any deeper.

Social media already has enough fake s**t.

So respect to every creator growing slowly, organically and honestly. Keep creating because you actually love what you do.

10,000 real people will always mean more than 100,000 ffake news!

Appreciate every creator that actually does it from the heart, love you all
Abdul Elenani

08/26/2026

Our hearts are with Nepal and China. 🇳🇵🇨🇳

Praying for those who lost their lives, those still missing, and every family waiting for their loved ones. 🤲

08/26/2026

Our TABBOULEH SALAD is the PERFECT STARTER! 🥗🤤

08/26/2026

Absolute BS!

08/25/2026

We built a world more connected than ever, yet an entire generation feels more disconnected, isolated and hopeless about the future.

Technology was supposed to bring us closer. Somewhere along the way, the algorithms started deciding how we live, how we interact and even how we see each other.

08/21/2026

Try a little bit of everything with our our FAMILY MASHAWI PLATTER! 🍗🥩🔥🍚

📍 Locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania!